Tips to cut
your spending

Living costs can increase as result of your cancer. If you’re spending more than your income, there are things you can do to reduce your outgoings.

Divide your spending into essential items and non-essential items. Essential items are basic living needs such as food, utility bills, mortgage and rent. Non-essential costs should be easier to reduce:

Look for help with healthcare costs. Remember, people with cancer can get free prescriptions. Your hospital may also have free parking policies.

Ask your employer about support with childcare fees.

Don’t try to reduce essential costs if you can’t afford to. If you’re worried about keeping up mortgage repayments, your lender may be able to extend the terms of your mortgage or reduce the interest. If you are renting, check if you are eligible for housing benefit.

If you have a mortgage, you may have taken out insurance when you first bought your home. The insurance might pay the monthly mortgage if you’re off work, or pay off the loan if you’re diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. We have more detailed information about insurance.

Prescriptions

Prescription costs vary across the UK.

They are free for everyone in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. People with cancer in England are eligible for free prescriptions. This includes any medication, not just cancer related medication. You can apply for an exemption certificate by collecting the form FP92A from your GP surgery or cancer clinic.

If your household income is low or if you’re getting certain state benefits, you and your partner may qualify for free prescriptions anyway.

If you live in England and are not sure whether you qualify for free prescriptions, call the NHS Help with Health Costs scheme on 0845 850 0030 or visit the NHS Business Services Authority.

If you don’t qualify for free prescriptions, you may want to buy a Prescription Prepayment Certificate for three months or a year.

It will save you money if you need more than four prescriptions every three months, or more than 14 a year. A pre-payment certificate costs £29.10 for three months, or £104 for 12 months.

You can buy a certificate over the phone using a recognised credit or debit card (call 0300 330 1341). If you buy the 12-month certificate, you can spread the cost over 10 monthly direct debit payments.

We have more detailed information about prescriptions that you may find helpful.

Childcare costs

You might need help paying for childcare while you attend appointments, have treatment or deal with any side effects. We have more information about the different ways to get help with childcare costs, including:

Credit cards

If you don’t pay off your credit card in full every month, you may be paying interest. You could transfer your balance to another card, some of which offer 0% interest deals for a limited period. If you do this, you’ll need to weigh up the savings against any balance transfer fee.

To find the best credit card deals, look at the tables published in the personal finance pages of newspapers, or use an online price comparison website.

Energy bills

It may be worth switching fuel suppliers if you can get a better deal with a different company. In general, it’s good to check fairly regularly (about once a year). You can check by using an energy price comparison website.

In England, Scotland and Wales, some of these websites are approved by a scheme called the Confidence Code. You can find these recommended websites by visiting Ofgem. In Northern Ireland, you can visit the Consumer Council to compare energy suppliers.

There are also schemes where you can get free or reduced-cost insulation or draught protection. For energy-saving tips, contact the Energy Saving Trust. Some suppliers have a trust fund that may be able to help pay your fuel bill.

We have more information about keeping warm, including lots of suggestions to help you save on energy costs. You can also speak to one of our energy advisers – call 0808 808 00 00 or read more about help with energy bills.

Phone calls

Check that you have the best call package for your home phone and mobile phone, if you have them. Many phone companies offer cheaper or free calls at certain times of day, so the deal that works best for you will depend on when you use your phone most.

If you have a contract mobile phone, you may save money by switching to a pay-as-you-go deal. This will only work if you set yourself a strict limit on the amount you’ll spend on top-ups each week or month. Before deciding whether to switch from a contract phone deal, check whether there is a minimum contract period and any penalty charge for cancelling it. You could also ask your mobile phone provider to switch you to a cheaper tariff if you call and explain your situation to them.

You may be able to save money by making phone calls online.

For example, SkypeTM is a free software program that lets you make free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world.

You’ll need to get a headset if you don’t already have a microphone and speakers for your computer. Skype also allows you to call landlines and mobile phones very cheaply.

The website Say no to 0870 can also help you save money on phone calls. It can help you find cheaper alternatives to some non-geographical telephone numbers, which can be more expensive to call – these often begin with 0870 or 0845.

Thanks

We rely on a number of sources to gather evidence for our information. If you’d like further information on the sources we use, please feel free to contact us on: bookletfeedback@macmillan.org.uk

All our information is reviewed by cancer or other relevant professionals to ensure that it’s accurate and reflects the best evidence available. We thank all those people who have provided expert review for the information on this page.

Our information is also reviewed by people affected by cancer to ensure it is as relevant and accessible as possible. Thank you to all those people who reviewed what you're reading and have helped our information to develop.

You could help us too when you join our Cancer Voices Network – find out more at: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancervoices

We make every effort to ensure that the information we provide is accurate and up-to-date but it should not be relied upon as a substitute for specialist professional advice tailored to your situation. So far as is permitted by law, Macmillan does not accept liability in relation to the use of any information contained in this publication or third party information or websites included or referred to in it.